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Digging in the Closet: Epilogue
Tom O'Flagherty Deck 6 Bridge The sentries who remained ever-present outside the blast-doors snapped to attention, and the moment they opened, one called out, “Captain on the Bridge!” Every head snapped around to look in the direction of Chris and Tom. “Did you know that there are actually 19 decks on this ship?” There were some light chuckles while Tom rolled his eyes. Commander Rahner gave up the command level, most likely happy to go back to Engineering. Upon reaching his chair, the young captain sat with a rather heavy sigh as he relaxed. A small smile crept across his face as he felt good to be out of his small predicament. “Lieutenant Mari, what is the current situation?” “The ship has taken a slight beating. Shields are in the process of being repaired, the warp core is clear and operating at full capacity, which means all other internal systems are fully operational. We have restarted our salvage operation, which was postponed during the small incident with the energy beings.” Mari’s exhausted visage said more than her hurried report. She looked to be completely out of gas, and for the first time, Tom realized how tired he was. “Computer, what is the time?” =/\=The time is 1925 hours ship time.=/\= The disembodied voice, which never seemed to change no matter what advancements came in technology, only made the Irishman more tired. “Well, I believe it is time for the Beta Shift,” he said in a resigned tone. “Lt. Mari, put Alpha to bed. Return to our ‘normal’ schedule, and get yourself some rack-time.” The blonde human turned and gave a wan smile before allowing her relief to take their position at Operations. Meanwhile, Chris continued to stand on the main level, observing the torn sleeve of his uniform with a rather mournful look on his face. “Oh, cheer up,” Tom said as he patted his friend on the shoulder. “We will just replicate you another uniform.” Chris tried to answer, but before he could form the words, Tom had relinquished the Bridge and was out the door, heading for his quarters. As he crossed the threshold, the lights activated to reveal a quiet room, Lisbet was still on shift in sickbay. That meant he would have to fend for his own hunger pains, which caused him to fire-up the replicator for some sausage, potatoes, and a lass of syntheholic lager. Once that was finished, he plopped on the bed, to try and find some sleep. With a quick appearance of Chris Vaughn. *02-02-2012, 08:15 Katie Banninga Katie turned over in her bed. Her alarm already beeped a couple times, but she just couldn’t get out. She had the day off and she didn’t wanted to sleep the whole time. She needed to write the report about all that happened, and do some other stuff. “Computer, play music file Katerine one” she ordered and the loud rock song started to play. Putting her legs on the ground in a final attempt to get out of bed, she grabbed her head. She had a huge headache. She looked around her room. Her uniform was half on a chair, half on the floor. The table was covered with padd´s and coffee mugs. She really needed to do some cleaning here. Luckily she didn´t have a roommate, although that would probably change soon, after they were in port. With all the new crewman coming on board. She stood up and walked to the closet to get her gym clothes. After putting them on, and combing her hair and tying it up she ordered a light breakfast with a cup of coffee. As she said down at the table she took a zip of her coffee and closed her eyes. Dammit, this stuff is good. When she looked at her computer terminal she noticed there was a new message. Quote: ---- Heey little one, I heard you are arriving at Caloris station in a few days. You missed our January first dinner. Contact me when you’re in port. Love David. ---- How did David know they were arriving at Caloris? And what was he doing in the Gamma Quadrant. Last she knew about his whereabouts he was travelling thought the alpha quadrant, making all kind of excuses not to go home. He started that ever since she went to the university. She typed a reply that she would contact him as soon as she could. After closing the terminal she went looking for her running shoes, they should be here somewhere. She had kicked them out after her last running session. When she found them and had put them on she left her quarters for the gym. *02-02-2012, 09:31 Tom O'Flagherty 0425 Hours Captain’s Quarters There were flashes of orange and red, loud explosions, and all on a background of flashing blue. The images were hypnotizing, like watching a fireworks show. Then, a scream pierced through the melee, and then Tom snapped awake in his bed, sweat pouring down his face. Sleep had come easily, but once it had taken hold, the nightmares returned. On the nightstand, the personal monitor was flashing towards him a blue screen that was supposed to be it’s gentle way of waking a person from sleep. Beside him, Lisbet was sleeping deeply, and so he whispered to keep from disturbing her. =/\=O’Flagherty here.=/\= The face of Lieutenant Masi Jojo appeared on the screen, and a slightly startled expression crossed her face at seeing her captain in bed. =/\=Ah, sir. I’m sorry to wake you.=/\= =/\=It’s OK Lieutenant. What’s the emergency?=/\= =/\=Sir, we have just received a hail from the Sze capital ship. The Matriarch would like to speak with you.=/\= Tom sighed heavily and ran a hand through his hair. =/\=Understood, Lieutenant. Give me three minutes=/\= He went to the closet to acquire a uniform jacket, and then closed the bedroom door as he went to the desk in the common area. Tom zipped the jacket closed and tried to get his hair to lay down on his head. At one point, he even licked his hand and tried to make an unruly piece of hair lay flat against his scalp. The screen flashed with Lt. Jojo’s face as the Captain went to clean the crust from his eyes. =/\=Are we ready to go Lieutenant?=/\= =/\=It looks like you got yourself together, sir. How did you get dressed so quickly?=/\= Tom gave her rather crooked look as he responded. =/\=Come on, Lieutenant. I know you’ve sent a message to your parents while not fully dressed.=/\= The Lt. blushed deeply. =/\=It’s OK, Lieutenant. It’s not that I’m a mind-reader, it’s that I’m human. We’ve all done it.=/\= She looked away as she entered commands into her console on the bridge. =/\=I’m putting the matriarch through now, sir. Have a good morning.=/\= =/\=Thank you, Lieutenant.=/\= The screen flickered and then the large, imposing figure of the Sze matriarch appeared on the screen. Her headcrest filled the upper half of the screen. “Matriarch, please forgive me bit I don’t have a diplomatic officer to teach me the traditional greeting.” “Captain,” The large insectoid clicked her mandibles and fluttered her small wings in a sign of annoyance at the breaking of protocol. “This will not be a long disruption.” “There is no disruption, Matriarch. I am glad that we finally have an opportunity to speak. What can the crew of the Atlas do for you?” Tom tried to push quickly past the displeasure the old female was most likely expressing at his failed greeting. He had only heard the formal greeting of the Sze in passing while stationed on the Gettysburg, and it seemed like Ensign Sinclair always said it way too fast for him to pick up. “Captain, we appreciate your crew’s efforts to salvage the Rrrr'krrrikkk'chk and retrieve the much needed supplies that were insider her holds. Unfortunately, it is unacceptable to us that the report shows none of the supplies being present, and no indication as to where they could have gone.” The Matriarch’s facial features didn’t change in any discernible way to Tom, but there was definitely a change in tone. “Matriarch, the Atlas’ crew has been chasing pirates and grave-robbers out of area since we arrived. As well, our crew has been using shuttles to traverse the area in order to increase the amount of ground we can cover. I am very sorry that those medical supplies were taken, but I’m sure it was done long before the Atlas arrived. We’ve only been in the system for 20 hours or so.” Tom was at a loss for how to respond to the Sze’s accusations. It seemed she was accusing the crew of stealing. “Captain, the Sze no longer require your assistance. We would like your ship to leave the area immediately, and report back to Caloris station. The Corrigan’s will be hearing about this.” “As you wish, Matri…” Before Tom could finish responding, the signal was cut from the other end. It was a very disconcerting feeling, and he knew it meant there would be repercussions once the crew returned to the Megiddo sector. Begrudgingly, Tom changed the channel on the personal monitor back to Lt. Jojo. =/\=I’m sure you were listening..=/\= =/\=Yes, sir=/\= The Lt. blushed again as she knew she had been caught spying. =/\=Well, have the duty officer suspend all salvage operations, recall the shuttles, and then set course for home at Warp 5. Once clear of the system, engage the Quantum Slipstream Drive. I’m going back to bed. Also, make sure all of this is noted in the log.=/\= =/\=Aye, sir. Rest well,=/\= And then the screen was black again. Tom sat in the quiet room, a heavy weight on his chest. The Atlas was due back at Caloris for it’s final fitting-out, and Tom would be moving on to another assignment. Part of him was sure that he would be transferred. Typically, the CO of the shakedown cruise didn’t stay with the ship once it was commissioned. Most likely, he was going to be sitting behind a desk on Earth, teaching after this. *02-02-2012, 11:57 Gerhardt Rahner Main Engineering 0445 MST Gerhardt walked through the main doors and immediately received a warm, friendly greeting of "What the hell, sir?" from Lt. Cressida. He had been expecting a lot worse. "Come, come, Ayla," he replied soothingly as he stepped into the pit to stare up at the MSD. The last thing he'd done before relievedly relinquishing command to the Captain was to reset the ships deck count to 19 to reflect the commanders' recent trek through the unknown, and he was pleased to see the MSD already reset to accommodate. "You did not surely think I could stay away that long." "You've been in the toughest seat on this ship for how many hours?" Ayla insisted. "And I know you haven't actually slept since then. What's it going to take to get you in bed? Uh, I didn't mean that... I mean... Damn it, Gerhardt! Go sleep!" He chuckled at her blundering. "All other offers aside, I am pleased to see you have decided to stop trying to force me out of here. I just needed to make sure you had not made any major changes while I was gone. Oh, and make sure the reallocation of systems for the extra deck was underway." "Well, I'd considered a new paint job, maybe some mauve over by the core, but what with the deck-wide evacuation and all, I ran out of time," she answered sardonically. "And the systems reallocation is almost as complete as we're going to need. We've just got to get back to Caloris Station for our refit, which should give us ample time to hammer out any details and let Ops reassign that deck. Oh, and on that note, we'll be leaving the system in a few minutes, after which the Captain has ordered us to go to Slipstream to get us back to Caloris faster." The conversation paused and she stared at him expectantly. He stared back, a bit confused, waiting for her to continue. "Sir, the last time we used the Quantum Slipstream Drive, our warp core got stolen. Aren't you going to try to insist on being there for this next use so I can order you to go get some rest? You know, playful banter, threats of court martial, all that song and dance?" "Not this time, Lieutenant," Gerhardt laughed. "I trust you, and I trust our ship. Just do not break anything." And with that, he turned and left Engineering, headed for some much needed rest.